10:1-11 God's withdrawings are very grievous to his people, especially in times of trouble. We stand afar off from God by our unbelief, and then complain that God stands afar off from us. Passionate words against bad men do more hurt than good; if we speak of their badness, let it be to the Lord in prayer; he can make them better. The sinner proudly glories in his power and success. Wicked people will not seek after God, that is, will not call upon him. They live without prayer, and that is living without God. They have many thoughts, many objects and devices, but think not of the Lord in any of them; they have no submission to his will, nor aim for his glory. The cause of this is pride. Men think it below them to be religious. They could not break all the laws of justice and goodness toward man, if they had not first shaken off all sense of religion.

Verse 11. - He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten (comp. vers. 4, 13). "The wish is father to the thought." As Delitzsch says, "The true personal God would disturb his plans, so he denies him. ' There is naught,' he says, 'but destiny, and that is blind; an absolute, and that has no eyes; an idea, and that has no grasp.'" He hideth his face. He looks away; he does not wish to be troubled or disturbed by what occurs on earth. So the Epicureans in later times. He win never see it (comp. Job 22:12; Psalm 73:11; Psalm 94:7).

He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten,.... Meaning either his own sins, because they are not immediately punished; wherefore he hopes to go on for ever with impunity, but will be mistaken, for God will remember the iniquities of Babylon, and render to her double, Revelation 18:5; see Amos 7:17; or else the poor ones he oppresses; for though they seem for a while to be forgotten by God, they are not, a book of remembrance is written for them;

he hideth his face; that is, from his poor saints, which is true oftentimes; but then the use the wicked one makes of it is bad, namely, to insult them on that account, and to imagine that it is grateful to God, and doing him good service, to afflict and persecute them; and that God will never regard them, nor return to them more, as follows;

he will never see it; or them; he will never more look upon the poor, he will no more regard them, and take notice of them and their afflictions; than which nothing is more false; for though he hides his face for a moment, yet with everlasting kindness will he gather them to himself; and he beholds all their oppressions and afflictions, and not as a bare spectator; he sympathizes with them, and delivers them out of them. Or "he will never" the wickedness committed by the wicked; which is a very foolish thought, since what is done in the dark, and in the most secret manner, is seen by God, the darkness and the light are alike to him; he is all-seeing and ever-seeing, and everywhere seeing; and he it is that has made the eye, and shall not he see? Psalm 94:5; the sense of the whole in general is, that God takes no notice of good men or bad men, nor of what is done by either of them; he does not concern himself with the affairs of this world, which is an impious denial of divine Providence; see Ezekiel 9:9.

Why Do You Stand Far Off?…10He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. 11He says to himself, "God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it."12Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the afflicted.…

Cross References

Job 22:13Yet you say, 'What does God know? Does he judge through such darkness?

Psalm 10:4In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

Psalm 10:10His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength.

Psalm 36:2In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.

Psalm 59:7See what they spew from their mouths-- the words from their lips are sharp as swords, and they think, "Who can hear us?"

Psalm 64:5They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, "Who will see it?"

Psalm 94:7They say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob takes no notice."

Isaiah 29:15Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?"

Ezekiel 8:12He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, 'The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.'"

Ezekiel 9:9He answered me, "The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, 'The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.'

Amos 8:7The LORD has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they have done.

Treasury of Scripture

He has said in his heart, God has forgotten: he hides his face; he will never see it.